Ahead of Yeovil Town's game with Lincoln City on Saturday, Darren Way faced the media at Thursday's pre-match press conference.

Fielding questions from the assembled journalists, here is everything the Yeovil Town manager said ahead of the visit of the Imps.

I expect that there’s a great mood around the camp after these cup runs that you’re putting together?

DW: We’ve got a good, positive group at the moment. As you can imagine there’s competition for places, so there will be that little bit of nervous energy so the squad that we’ve built this year, I think if I was to look at the experienced players last year, they probably needed a little bit more help, but I don’t think that’s the case this year. The experienced players almost have to need a little bit more just to show me that one or two of the other players who have not been playing, to hold their positions.

It must be good from a squad point of view. We were talking to Alefe Santos a moment ago, not involved on Tuesday but he can’t wait to get back in the team and I guess that’s what you want from your team?

DW: Well I think all of the lads have been very persistent in everything that they’ve been, whether it’s off the training ground or on the training ground and I think you saw it all come together on Tuesday night.

Yeovil Town beat AFC Wimbledon 2-0 on Tuesday to reach the last 16 of the Checkatrade Trophy (Image: Tom Sandberg/Pinnacle)

You’ve got a chance to bring that cup form into the league. is that difficult to do, obviously it’s still a game of football at the end of the day?

DW: Well not at home it’s not been, certainly with the results that we’ve had. We’ve played higher opposition, AFC Wimbledon, we’ve played Plymouth, we’ve played Notts County, we’ve had a real tough run and by looking at the fixtures, it’s going to get even tougher. I think it’s 16 matches in eight weeks, so the loading and the responsibility that the players have got to take is huge. It’s a busy Christmas period and it’s going to get even busier when that window opens up in January, so all the players have responded and every day I think their mindsets and the experience that they’re gaining is helping them to develop at a quicker rate.

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You say you’re playing well at home, you’ve got a good record at home here so I guess you go into Saturday’s game full of confidence?

DW: On Tuesday you could see there was a lot of energy and a lot of forward thinking which was our problem certainly at the start of the season. We’ve asked for more crosses, more shots and more forward runs and the players are showing that with their energy.

Oscar Gobern joined Yeovil Town on a free transfer last week (Image: Tom Sandberg/Pinnacle)

Oscar [Gobern] was captain in midweek, having not arrived in the team long ago. How would you assess that and is that something that you would look to do again?

DW: Yes, definitely. I think he showed composure. He was unfazed by the situation, I thought his general play and certainly the combination between him and Connor Smith, they were always wanting the ball and always looking to have a forward momentum and at the same time they were picking up first and second balls, percentage wise, so as a midfield two I thought they did particularly well.

Has he already shown you the qualities that you thought he had when you were signing him?

DW: Well I knew he had qualities when you look at his CV, but unfortunately whenever you look at a CV now and then a player ends up at Yeovil, there’s always a reason why and then it’s up to me as a manager to be able to give that player an opportunity and bring him to the football club, which we’ve done, and then obviously enter him into the arena, and he did that on Saturday, I thought he affected the game when he came on, and I thought he affected the game up until about 67 minutes on Tuesday, so we’ve got a good signing or a good addition, it’s just important now that he’s consistent with it.

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And Lincoln, what are you expecting from them this weekend?

DW: Well like any team, they’ve got strengths as far as their forward play, they’re very strong, they can be dominant, they get the ball forward early. They have Bostwick, who was at Peterborough, who I tried to sign in the summer, but unfortunately I couldn’t get near his bonuses, let alone his wages, so he’s a very experienced player to have in the team. They’ve got Rhead, who’s a little bit like Tom Pope, a physical presence, who holds up play and flicks it onto Green, they’ve got Anderson who’s very effective in the wide areas, cutting inside, putting crosses into the box, and Woodyard, who is another good player that I looked at, and you can see that with them getting promoted they would have sought a lot of attention from League Two clubs, looking at their players, and obviously when they were promoted, with the crowd that they get, they’ve managed to continue that momentum.

Danny Cowley guided Lincoln City back into the EFL last season as the Imps won the National League (Image: Getty Images)

Absolutely, and the cup run last season really put them in the spotlight as well. What do you make of the job that Danny Cowley has done there?

DW: I think he’s done a very good job. To take any team out of the Conference and into the league, and try to continue that momentum and keep the players, I think there’s one good thing that they have and they’ve got a really good fanbase that can support them every week. Their attendances have been very good and I think that helps, obviously with the finances, and they’ve had continued success from the Conference and we know what that was like. When we got promoted from the Conference into the Football League I think we were maintaining crowds of nearly seven or eight thousand, so they’ve got that, but it’s important to make sure we keep up our home form. Our supporters have been great in getting behind the players and as far as realistic targets as concerned, to be in both cup competitions as we speak, we’ve got a big game on Saturday, a big game on Tuesday and I’ve been happy with being in every cup competition, certainly with the strength in depth with the squad and with the small numbers, obviously with containing AFC Wimbledon and Plymouth because I watched Chelsea last night, playing against MK Dons, so to get to where we are in these cup competitions, financially it helps us balance the books, and so far that’s a good achievement.

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It’s not long until the January transfer window opens. We’ve often talked about the experiences of last year. Is there any update, maybe, on being able to keep hold of Olufela Olomola or is that something still in the pipeline?

DW: I’ve got to be honest with you, I don’t want to scare the supporters or anyone at the football club, but it can be a concern, only because I know I experienced it last year, and I know that if I look back on it, could I have managed it in any other way? I probably couldn’t, as far as losing one or two of your better players and then the window closes. I wouldn’t say it gives you loads of time to be able to affect it, just because, with no disrespect, some of the players almost use Yeovil with the clubs being closer to home, and obviously I found that with Shayon Harrison, I found that with Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro, it takes players time to settle when they move to Somerset, so I’ll be doing everything that I can with the board of directors to make sure that we keep stability, because we’ve worked very hard over the summer with this group of players and it would just be shame, even to lose two or three, and we know what Fela’s situation is. Surridge, Worthington, Nelson, Keston Davies, you’ve got one or two who perhaps haven’t had as much game time, so all I’ve said to the players is to make sure that we stick together because of the longer term future of this season.

Fela Olomola has scored seven goals on loan at Yeovil Town this season (Image: Gareth Davies/Pinnacle)

If Fela doesn’t return, have you got irons in fires or those sorts of things, maybe other replacements?

DW: Well I have, but again it’s finances, so that’s not my decision, that’s at board level. All I can do is try and map out what I want to keep, but like we know with any other player, I had Ryan Hedges on a season long loan and unfortunately I lost him to Barnsley and he moved for £300,000. I had a great relationship with Swansea, I still have, with Huw Jenkins, but unfortunately these decisions get made.

Just following on from that, on the transfer window, what are your key aims and hopes in terms of strengthening any key areas or positions that you’re looking to strengthen up and add depth to?

DW: Well I think you can look at the spine of the team, I think that’s important. I think you can see that the problems we encountered at the start of the season, with losing Zubar through injury, he would’ve been one of my mainstays in the team as far as experience is concerned, so it was hard to change that once the window had closed. We made one or two decisions but I think we’re in a different place now because there are one or two players that are hitting form, Omar Sowunmi being one of form. I think he’s grown in stature with the experience that he’s gained from previous seasons of being with us, he looks like he’s becoming a player. What he’s got to do is try to make sure that he holds that place down, and that’s made it a lot easier for me, certainly with the loan players because once the window opens up the loan players will decide what they want to do, and then I suppose we’ll be dictated as to who decides to take our players, if that’s the case. Obviously Olomola being one and there’s one or two that I’ve thought have done very well this season and drawn a little bit of attention, so fingers crossed, and I probably won’t be able to make those decisions until we find out what their commitment is.

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Just looking ahead to Saturday’s game. Obviously results have been good in the cups lately and allowed you to build that momentum, but in the league if you look at the recent run it’s one point in four games, so how important is it that you get that win or get some points on the board on Saturday and really use it as an opportunity to get some breathing space between you and the teams below you going into the Christmas period?

DW: Well we look at our recent football matches, so we drew with Port Vale, we beat AFC Wimbledon and we beat Plymouth, and so far our home form has been good, so there are a lot of positives to take out of it. I’m realistic, I think where we are as far as our away form is concerned, we want to make sure that has to become better as far as results are concerned, but to be in every cup competition and for our home form to be what it is, and it has to be one of the best that supporters have seen in the last four years, so the amount of goals that we’ve been scoring at home is important, we’ve just got to continue that.

And fitness wise, everybody that was available on Tuesday, are they all looking like they’re going to be fit and ready to go on Saturday as well?

DW: Yeah, everything’s looking good, so as far as the medical department is concerned, it’s done well considering we’ve had small numbers, and like I said, 16 matches in eight weeks is a big load, so the players need to be making sure that they’re physically and mentally ready.